title: Resistin, an adipokine, may affect the improvement of insulin sensitivity in the metabolic syndrome patient treated with metformin.
abstract: The metabolic syndrome (MS) is a cluster of metabolic disorders arising from insulin resistance, characterized by the presence of central obesity, impaired fasting glucose level, dyslipidemia and hypertension. As the first-line medication, metformin is commonly used for MS to reduce insulin resistance. Comparing with rosiglitazone, metformin does not increase cardiovascular mortality risk in patients with MS. However, metformin is not good enough in improving insulin sensitivity. Its molecular mechanism is still not clear. Recent studies have demonstrated that resistin, an adipokine, could induce IR by both AMPK-dependent and AMPK-independent pathways. Though there were conflicting findings of resistin in metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes mellitus in different studies, resistin was significant decreased in the rosiglitazone treated patients than in the metformin-treated patients in most of studies. Here, we hypothesized that resistin, an adipokine, may affect the improvement of insulin sensitivity in the metabolic syndrome patient treated with metformin. This hypothesis could explain why rosiglitazone is superior to metformin in enhancement of insulin sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Center for Medical Experiments, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410013, China; Department of Cardiology, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410013, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: Youbo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Lihua
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xiaowei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xing
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000502:physiology*; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008687:Metformin / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008954:Models, Biological; D052243:Resistin / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D000077154:Rosiglitazone; D045162:Thiazolidinediones / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D052243:Resistin; D045162:Thiazolidinediones; D000077154:Rosiglitazone; D008687:Metformin